


when life gives you lemons (ask for a lime)

by travelingsymphony



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Pandemic, Angst, Crack, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Happy Ending, Humor, M/M, Post-Break Up, References to Depression, a coronavirus fic without the corona, bed sharing but make it emotionally uncomfortable oops, dangerous yoga positions and bruised noses (unrelated), word of the fic: gayning (gay yearning)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23257180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/travelingsymphony/pseuds/travelingsymphony
Summary: Out of all the people to be stuck with at the end of the world, it had to be Lee Donghyuck,Mark thinks while looking over at the younger with the most non-noticeable glare he can manage.Fuck you, Universe.(Or, maybe getting quarantined with your ex-boyfriend isn’t as bad as it sounds. Spoiler alert: it is).
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 70
Kudos: 637





	1. you don't have to let me in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y’all, how’s it going? this isn’t normally the type of fic i write, but i wanted to try something new because well, got nothing else to do. 
> 
> i do want to say that this is a **coronavirus related** fic; however, i don’t mention the pandemic/virus by name so it is more like a boring apocalypse au lmfao. 
> 
> this fic is purely for entertainment and shouldn’t be taken seriously. remember that there is, at the time of posting, a global pandemic going around for real and that we should all do our part to keep clean and safe (aka wash your fucking hands, it’s been a psa).  
> 

  
  


**Day 1— Sunday**

_Out of all the people to be stuck with at the end of the world, it had to be Lee Donghyuck,_ Mark thinks while looking over at the younger with the most non-noticeable glare he can manage. 

_Fuck you, Universe._

See, this is the perfect opportunity to go off on that stupid little monologue that started like half of the TV show movies in the early 2000s: _you are probably wondering how I ended up in this situation right now?_

Because you are probably wondering about how he managed to get this fucked over at the start of a global freakin’ pandemic. 

And like all bad decisions made in college, it started with a party. 

After in-class meetings were cancelled for the rest of the semester, Mark decided that now was the ideal time to throw a party at his own apartment to kick off Spring Break with a bang. 

At the moment, it was just a regular Saturday night. 

Basketball was playing on the TV as the tournament started to pick up it’s pace, alcohol at every corner of the apartment in red plastic cups, and music blaring at the highest volume without getting a noise complaint (again). 

And they say you can’t have fun while the earth’s on fire?

Shit was wild in the best ways possible and Mark lived for every second of it. Even seeing Donghyuck in his apartment again didn’t bring him down like it would have a month ago. 

Mostly because he was shitfaced at that point on Coronas and Jose Cuervo so Donghyuck didn’t even look like Donghyuck, just another face in the crowd. 

Another face that was just as hauntingly beautiful as it was earlier that winter. 

It wasn’t until the next morning (now) when Mark realized the big mistake he created, all by his damn self. 

Looking back on it, Mark really wishes he paid attention to the social distancing message everyone has been preaching for the last couple days.

With the school closing and people getting worried about their jobs on campus, that should have been enough for Mark to realize what they (the government) were going to do next. 

“Quarantined.” Donghyuck shoves his phone in Mark’s face right as the older wakes up dazed and confused on _why the fuck_ Lee Donghyuck is back in his apartment after all this time. 

“Wait, _what do you mean_ quarantined?” Mark mutters as he tries to get the cotton feeling out of his mouth. God, his breath must stink if the taste on his tongue is the equivalent to roadkill.

“Quarantined, you know, stuck inside, can’t leave the apartment for a 14 day period, yada yada yada. Have you _not_ been watching the news recently?” Donghyuck questions with a brow raised in almost disbelief. 

Of course Mark hasn’t been watching the news, he’s in fucking college. 

“Uh—” Mark starts, but is quickly stopped by a groan Donghyuck releases.

“Of course you haven’t, you never did when we dated either.” He says under his breath and Mark can’t help, but get defensive. 

Silently, gets silently defensive because Mark really doesn’t want to talk about it. It being dating, dated, whatever tense. 

He doesn’t want to talk about why they _aren’t_ dating anymore. 

So here they are, sitting on the couch with the TV on (watching the news because Donghyuck wants to) listening to the news anchor talk about Mark’s literal worst nightmare.

_“The governor released a statement this morning putting a city-wide quarantine in effect at noon. This act will last for the next two weeks to try and stop the virus from spreading in hopes of flattening the curve on the number of cases.”_

Mark looks at the clock and it reads 02:04. They missed it just by 2 hours. 

Donghyuck could have been out of his apartment 2 hours earlier and none of this could be happening. 

This being: _“The governor states that no one should be leaving their apartments for the next two weeks. The only exceptions are for doctor’s visits for possible new cases and a weekly trip to the grocery store to stock up on food and other items necessary by one person in the household.”_

“Jesus.” Donghyuck says to himself and Mark can only nod his head in agreement.

He knew it was getting bad, with the cancelled classes and all, but this was like, crazy, right? 

There is no way that the world is _actually_ ending, right? Because everyone sure is acting like the world is ending and Mark really wants to get a degree before, you know, dying. 

Mark used to (literally last week) make fun of all those people who ran to stores and bought out all the toilet paper, but now those people seemed to be onto something. Mark has no fucking clue on how many rolls he has left. 

Holy shit, what if he runs out of toilet paper? 

“I already checked. You have like, five rolls left.” Donghyuck mumbles and Mark whips his head around. 

_Did I really say that outloud,_ Mark groans in his head (this time!!!) and forces himself not to put his head in his hands.

Both of them sit on the couch in silence. It’s a weird feeling and Mark can’t really explain it. It’s a lot of information to take in and honestly, Mark just wishes he wasn’t hungover. 

Not like he would be able to process it any better sober. 

God, especially with _Donghyuck_ here. 

“Why are you even here?” Mark can’t stop himself from asking. Once the words are out of his mouth though, his eyes go wide and he can’t help, but slap his hand on his mouth. 

_Why did I ask that, why did I think that was a good thing to ask,_ Mark screams at himself in his head like the dumbass he is. 

Because honestly, he really doesn’t want to hear a damn thing that comes out of Donghyuck’s mouth. Honestly.

“You know what, we are stuck here together whether we like it or not,” Donghyuck _ignores_ him and Mark is a little relieved he does. “I think we should just, I don’t know, split up the apartment or something.” 

This is not the time to argue and say that this is his (Mark’s, he, himself, and his) apartment no matter what Donghyuck says, and technically it is both their apartment for the next two weeks. 

Mark breathes in and counts to ten. 

“Okay.” He responds and Donghyuck just nods his head once. 

_God this stupid quarantine better work,_ Mark thinks as he gives up Donghyuck his bed for the next couple weeks because he’s a good fucking dude.

_I hate sleeping on this couch._

  


  


**Day 2— Monday**

You’d think a pandemic would be more, ah what’s the word, exciting?

The 2010s really prepared all of us for man-eating zombies and shit (don’t get Mark wrong, he is really _really_ happy he doesn’t have to fight off zombies because he would lose, badly).

But Goddamn, this whole mess is a lot more boring than what Hollywood made it out to be. The government should’ve collapsed by now if we were on the World War Z timeline and Brad Pitt would be on his way saving us all by now. 

Instead, Tom Hanks is infected and the sun still rises just like it does every day. 

The worst part may be that it just started and Mark never realized how much he socialized until he couldn’t. 

Especially now that Donghyuck is his only person he can physically socialize with. 

Sure he FaceTimed Jaemin and Jeno last night and Renjun this morning (the punk yelled at him for waking him up so early, but Mark digresses). 

And don’t even get Mark started on the panicky conversation he had with his _mother_ : do you have enough to eat, are you feeling ill, I should have packed you with more meds, etc. 

But it’s not the same; being stuck on the couch is only fun when you’re stuck on the couch because you chose to be stuck on the couch. 

Does that make sense? 

Sports are cancelled now too? Mark got so many notifications on his phone every single hour this morning from the ESPN App telling him that every sport under the sun was either cancelled (rip the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament) or suspended until further notice. 

So now Mark is stuck in his apartment with Donghyuck with nothing to distract him from the fact that he is stuck in his own apartment with an ex that still hits him a little too close to home. 

Luckily, Donghyuck seems to be taking Mark’s offer of having his bedroom seriously to heart because he hasn’t come out once and Mark doesn’t know what to feel. 

He just wants to talk, and well, Mark doesn’t really feel like he has that option with the guest mentioned. 

Playing Wordscapes on his phone, Mark startles when the bedroom door suddenly opens with a high-pitched squeak. Donghyuck walks out in Mark’s clothes and it makes the older’s heart wilt at the sight. 

“I’m going to the grocery store, what do you want?” Donghyuck asks without looking up from his phone when he is clearly scrolling a blank screen. Mark taught him that trick, hmph. 

Mark’s face is quick to react as his eyebrows pull together. 

“I should be the one going to the grocery store seeing that we are stuck at _my place_?” Mark argues immediately, already feeling stir crazy in the confined space after one fucking day. 

“Well I have the coupon card and we have to buy for the two of us anyway.” Donghyuck pushes back, now crossing his arms and fake locking his phone. 

_You weren’t even scrolling!!!_

“I have a card now too so I’ll be the one going.” Mark cannot even believe him right now. 

“No.” 

“Oh my God, Donghyuck can you just listen for once—”

“You can still call me _Hyuck,_ you know?” 

_Actually, no, I didn’t think you’d like it anymore,_ Mark thinks exasperatedly, but bites the reply off his tongue. 

Doesn’t matter, at least not right now. 

“Fine, whatever. You can go, you always do whatever you want anyway.” Mark waves off even though he is pissed to all hell, but tries his hardest to not show it. 

Donghyuck stares at him for a moment fuming before turning around; he pulls on a pair of shoes (Mark’s) and leaves just like that. _Like always._

Mark gets a text a couple minutes later asking him to answer back with what he wants. Begrudgingly, he does so because the last thing he wants is to live without some watermelon for the next week. 

Donghyuck comes back hours later with a few groceries and more stress marks on his face than he had before he left. 

He flings himself on to the couch with a thud, not even bothering with putting the shit he just bought away and Mark barely blinks an eye away from his phone. 

Candy Crush is quite interesting at very certain, specific times, okay?

“You can go next week, not like there is anything to buy.” Donghyuck says with exhaustion dripping from his voice. Mark looks up to see an arm flung over the younger’s eyes and just feels slightly bad. 

Bad enough for Mark to get up without a word and put the groceries away. Feels even worse when he sees Donghyuck got an extra tub of freshly cut watermelon, just the way he likes it. 

“You can watch Netflix tonight on the TV in my bedroom if you want.” Mark tells Donghyuck later that night when he is _truthfully_ scrolling on his own phone. 

The younger nods then pauses; he looks up with confusion clearly written on his face.

“What do you mean?”

Mark coughs into his fist then remembers he probably shouldn’t do that. So he gets up to wash his hands, just in case.

“Well, I downgraded my account after we broke up so I only pay for one screen at a time now.” Mark says from the sink because it’s easier to talk to him when he doesn’t have to look Donghyuck— _Hyuck_ in the eyes.

“Oh,” Mark’s chest squeezes a little when hearing Hyuck's soft voice again. “Okay.” 

It’s been a while since he heard that tone of voice from him. Mark never realized how much he missed it until now.

Mark has to stop himself from apologizing for how empty his apartment is now, but it’s not his fault that Donghyuck took literally everything that was fun in the first place. 

The infinite movie collection, almost every video game under the sun and moon, the real (and fake, but don’t tell anyone) plants, the warmth and energy. 

It’s weird to think Donghyuck really sucked all the hope out of Mark when he left, but he did. 

And he doesn’t even know it, and if he does, then isn’t that worse?

Mark and Donghyuck eat instant rice together and watch the sunset out of the window Hyuck must have opened while Mark wasn’t watching. The breeze tickles Mark’s nose to the point where he’s happy to be breathing fresh air again. 

Hyuck calls it an early night, but Mark can hear the TV on in the bedroom from the living room so he pulls up Spotify on this TV and pretends everything is fine. 

And somehow it doesn’t even cross Mark’s mind that when Donghyuck went out for groceries, he really could’ve just gone back to his own home. 

But he came back with two tubs of watermelon in his hands instead.

  


  


**Day 3— Tuesday**

Mark is in the shower when he remembers his meal plan. God, that stupid fucking meal plan. 

_Christ,_ he thinks when lathering his hair up with conditioner and putting it into a mohawk just because he can, _I hope they refund us for the weeks we literally couldn’t use it because I’m not paying $2000 to not eat the shitty food they serve._

Mark walks out of the bathroom with his hair slightly damp after towel drying it and dressed in the same sweatpants he has been wearing the past couple days (no one to dress for in the first place).

Low and behold, he’s greeted with Donghyuck by the still open window and he’s, standing on his head?

Mark blinks once then twice. He is now paying attention enough to his surroundings to realize that music is lightly drifting in the background and sees a candle burning on the windowsill. 

The smell of lilac drifts in the apartment making Mark feel relaxed— _wait when the fuck did he get a candle?_

“Whatcha doing?” Mark asks staring down the mystery candle, startling Donghyuck enough for his eyes to snap wide open and _oh shit—_

Before Mark can get to him, Donghyuck falls over on his face with a loud bang. Luckily his feet barely miss the TV and Mark can breathe at the fact he doesn’t have to clean up broken glass. 

“ _Shit,_ are you okay?” Mark let’s worry be heard in his voice, remembering to not talk so loud, and leans down next to the younger to help him sit up. Donghyuck shakes his head and cracks his back in the process, gross. 

“Uh yeah, don’t think I broke anything but my pride.” Donghyuck rubs his nose in a stupidly cute way (not that Mark thinks it cute, or anything), laughing quietly to himself. 

“You know that was pretty cool, before you fell over and everything.” Mark says waving at the area where Donghyuck was standing on his head and for some reason heat rushes to his face. 

God, he could really act like a five year old when he wanted to, huh. 

“Hey! It was _your_ fault that I fell over in the first place.” Hyuck pushes Mark over on his back jokingly which causes the older to start laughing with his whole chest.

Hyuck laughs with him easily and it’s almost like the world isn’t on fire for a moment. 

“You remember when you fell ass first in front of the library?” 

Okay, you remember when Mark said the world wasn’t on fire (literally seconds ago), yeah erase that.

_How could I not remember, that’s when I met you._

“God, I thought you were gonna cry when I first saw you. Don’t blame you for falling because it just rained and all, but my God.” Donghyuck giggles to himself and Mark stares at the ceiling finding it incredibly interesting at that moment. 

“I mean you sort of did tear up a bit, but that’s when I helped you get up. I don’t think you noticed that I noticed, but it doesn't matter. It was still cute.” 

_Yeah I started crying because I was embarrassed that I fell ass first in front of someone as attractive as you. Not like you can relate._

Not like Mark doesn’t find himself attractive, or something. (Okay, that’s exactly what he thinks). 

Donghyuck leans down on his elbows and looks Mark in the eyes. It just reminds Mark of all the times Hyuck put his head on his chest just to listen to his heartbeat because he felt like it. 

“I cried because I thought you were hot.” Mark blurts out just like how he normally does and Donghyuck stares at him for a bit, but there is a smile sitting peacefully at the corner of his lips. 

“I know Mark.” He replies slowly and lays his head down on Mark’s chest, almost wearily. 

Is it sad that Mark forgets how to breathe? Only for a second, but it sort of felt like an eternity. 

They sunbathe in the middle of the living room for a bit. There were a handful of times where Mark thought Donghyuck might have fallen asleep due to his breath becoming deep and steady. 

But instead learns that he wasn’t asleep because: _I can feel you staring Mark._

Donghyuck gets up first, this is mostly due to the fact that Mark is too much of a pussy to move when Hyuck looked so fucking content. Once he gets up though, Mark notices him make a move to go back into the bedroom. 

“You— uh, you don’t have to hang out there all the time. If you don’t want to! Of course, it’s your choice.” Mark stutters and can’t help, but blush even more. God, he’s blushed more today than he has the last couple months. 

Donghyuck smirks instead of replying and leaves Mark in the living room with a red face. 

He sits down on the couch, sort of confused about what the last hour was about, but isn’t left alone for too long. 

Donghyuck strolls back in and pushes Mark out of his seat. He flops down with more grace than what Mark holds in his pinkie and throws his legs across Mark’s lap. 

“I changed us over to my Netflix account so we could have more than one screen. I didn’t think you’d mind.” Hyuck says and Mark nods along dumbly at the kind action. 

Donghyuck’s love language was always gestures— not like it matters. 

But was it bad that Mark’s first true thought was: _why do you need Netflix for more than one person?_

That’s bad right, that he thought that? Like of course Donghyuck doesn’t have a new boyfriend— not that you need a boyfriend to pay for more than one screen! 

But like, that wouldn’t be a bad thing! If he had a boyfriend. Not at all, it would be great actually. Super great. 

_Great, yeah, we’ll go with that,_ Mark thinks trying to get relaxed again, but finds that there is now an itch under his skin that wasn’t there before. 

“Cool, amazing. Thanks.” Mark responds and all the while, Donghyuck scrolling through Netflix like everything is fine and the world isn’t on fire. 

Everything is fine, just as peachy as always.

  


  


**Day 4— Wednesday**

Mark gets a couple texts throughout the day accusing him of ignoring everyone he knows (drama queens) and becoming a hermit. 

_Today_

**From: renjunnie-hunie**  
10:23: bruh you good???

 **From: na na na na na (JAEMIN)**  
12:41: homie respond plzzzzzz

 **From: lee #5**  
15:03: Did Hyuckie kill you or WHAT

 **From: renjunnie-hunie**  
15:06: ????????  
15:07: DONGHYUCK’S WITH YOU????????

And no, Donghyuck hasn’t killed him, but more importantly, Mark isn’t ignoring everyone (well now he is because why not). 

Mark’s just, you know, enjoying his time with Donghyuck.

It’s not like this is the first time Mark’s ever enjoyed Donghyuck’s company. It’s just the first time in a while which is weird to everyone, especially him.

Mark didn’t swear off Donghyuck for the rest of his life or something, it’s just that he was still trying to get over the break up and before all of this, it was hard. 

It’s still hard now, but it is what it is, you know?

After seeing Hyuck stand on his head (Mark is still confused on how he did that), they decided that maybe a daily yoga session or something would be good for them to stay active and not gain 25 pounds within the next week and a half. 

It is better than sitting on the couch all day wishing they weren’t. 

Mark’s limbs felt like they were going to fall off after they tried to do something way too hard for beginners, but it was nice to hear Donghyuck laugh every time he visibly shook in pain. 

To be honest, he was impressed by how sweaty they got just sitting on the carpet holding some stretches for ten seconds. 

But it was way more fun than what Mark first thought it was going to be. He would have never started doing yoga on his own (he is way more into running), but he’s glad that he is able to do something during this whole quarantine thing. 

_I haven’t even thought about the quarantine in a while,_ Mark’s mind wanders off as he tries to remember when this whole situation didn’t seem like absolute hell. 

It’s not like it has escaped his mind completely or anything. Donghyuck still puts the TV on any news channel he wants and tries to get updated at least three times a day. 

They even had a debate on whether social distancing was the best choice of action in times like these. 

“I think it’s the best we got going on right now if that makes sense? What people don’t know, they don’t know so we kind of have to go all in to be able to help everyone out at the end of the day.” Was Donghyuck’s final stance. 

Mark agreed with him, and it just bums him out that a lot of people could possibly lose income (him) due to not being able to work because they (he) literally can’t _go_ to work. 

Who knew he would be missing his editor job for the school newspaper? Not him. 

Overall, it sucks and there is nothing anyone can do about it other than wait it out. Hopefully not forced in their apartments for too long. 

Mark can’t help but think about how he almost was left alone during all of this. Though at first he thought it was going to be awful with Donghyuck, it isn’t as bad as he first thought it would be. 

It’s been, dare he say, _nice._ To have Donghyuck back in his life and not a stranger anymore. Who knew a pandemic could bring some good? 

Speaking of _good—_

“Mark! Come here, come here, come here.” Donghyuck yells from the window even though Mark is only a few feet away in the kitchen making a snack (apple slices with peanut butter, fuck it up). 

“Yeah I’m coming.” Mark answers with his mouth full of the rest of his snack and walks over. Before he knows it, Donghyuck is pulling him to the window and almost throws him out of it on accident. 

“Look look look!” Donghyuck bounces on his toes in excitement and Mark can understand why. 

Deer are flooding the street in front of his apartment building. A buck stands at the front and a half a dozen doe behind him. They are eating at the grass that is just barely overgrowing. 

Mark stands there in awe, watching the deer walk around calmly as they reassess the land that used to be theirs. He never thought living near the street where cars kept him up some nights would ever give him this view. 

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Donghyuck whispers with light in his voice and Mark looks over at the younger who is basically hanging outside of his third-story window with stars in his eyes. 

“Yeah they really are.” 

They sit next to the windowsill until the deer walk back from where they came from. Even though they weren’t there for long, that was easily one of the coolest things Mark has ever seen living in the city. 

Mark wants to ask Donghyuck if his eyes are okay because he has to imagine that they are dry as hell now for how much the wind was hitting his basically non-blinking eyes. 

Hyuck rubs his eyes once and Mark goes straight into the medicine cabinet to get him some eye drops. 

“Thanks.” 

“No problem.”

Dinner is simple mostly because Mark is shit at cooking, but not going crazy enough to try and learn how to cook a 5 star meal properly (maybe that will be tomorrow’s goal). 

By the end of the day, like usual, Mark and Donghyuck find themselves in front of the TV with Mark playing on his phone and Hyuck doing whatever he does.

“Mark, do you wanna start a show with me or something?” Donghyuck asks out of the blue and Mark raises his head to see Netflix on the TV screen.

Mark doesn’t notice the nervousness in the younger’s voice, but sees how Hyuck relaxes when he responds with: _sure._

He wasn’t making any progress on Wordscapes anyways and all the help Donghyuck offers is telling him to look up the answers online which is cheating!!! Mark doesn’t care if it is a phone game!!! 

So Mark locks his phone and puts it down on the couch. It doesn’t take them long to settle on Grease after Donghyuck begs for five minutes (Mark could never hold out on Hyuck when he used his stupid puppy eyes). 

It was worth it though when the younger started singing Grease Lightning and doing the dance along with John Travolta and Co. Mark’s never been a fan of Grease, but this version wasn’t so bad. 

Once the movie was over and Donghyuck carried his own tired ass to bed, Mark finally responds to the texts that have flooded his phone over the past few hours. 

**To: renjunnie-hunie**  
01:13: not dead,  
01:13: honestly, doing just fine (:

  


  


**Day 5— Thursday**

“You bought, uh, paint?” Mark stares dumbly at the cardboard box Donghyuck pushes directly into his hands. 

“Yeah! I bought it along with the candles and had the stuff shipped here.” Donghyuck waves behind him with the mountain of candles that have slowly been infiltrating his apartment. At least it smells better than it did before, even if it’s “Burning Vanilla Night”. 

“I thought it could be fun.”

Mark nods like he gets it. He hasn’t painted in almost a decade; he was definitely in elementary school the last time he played around with some shitty (dry) tempera paints. 

Not like a good medium would help Mark become a better artist, que “the Birth of Venus” being painted with _Goddamn tempera—_ this isn’t the point.

Donghyuck got acrylic paint and Mark thinks it could be fun. 

“So where are the brushes?” Mark asks and Donghyuck’s face visibly deflates as he awkwardly laughs. 

“About that…”

Moral of the story: Mark brought out some old sheets and put them on the kitchen floor. Good thing Donghyuck remembered to buy canvases because all Mark has is copy paper and that would have been impossible. 

However, the younger couldn’t remember— 

“Brushes, I can’t believe I forgot to buy brushes.” Donghyuck laughs to himself when he dips his finger into the white paint. 

Luckily, Mark had some paper plates to spare so they filled a couple of them up with all the colors they wanted to finger paint with. 

_Preschool here we come,_ Mark thinks when putting his pointer finger in the royal blue paint. 

The thick liquid is cold on Mark’s skin. It makes him shiver slightly even though the spring breeze continues to make it’s way through the apartment in waves.

The Weeknd’s new album plays in the background while they paint. At some point, Donghyuck puts up a book to block Mark’s view of his “masterpiece in progress”. 

Mark never thought he would get this into painting, but hours pass in a blink of an eye. He only notices that time has passed because the sun starts to go down which causes the lighting in the apartment to warp. 

Looking at his piece once he concluded it was “complete”, Mark has no clue what he made. 

It is mostly a mashup of different colors that are all over the place, yet never make a shitty brown color so Mark calls it a win. 

Mark: 1, Acrylic: 0. 

He decides to start making dinner around Hyuck who is still slaving over his creation. Mark doesn’t mind until Hyuck starts squirming under Mark’s feet so he can move his piece to stop Mark from seeing it. 

“Why can’t I see it?” Mark whines while waiting for the pot of water to boil (he’s going to try to make spaghetti with HOME-MADE sauce, let’s see how this goes). 

“It’s a surprise, I’m almost done, ‘kay?” Donghyuck doesn’t even look up. Good thing because Mark is pouting and Mark doesn’t pout, like ever. Donghyuck’s missing out to be honest. 

Mark is finally putting the pasta in the water when Donghyuck finishes. The younger gets up to wash his hands and goes to Mark’s side before showing him his painting. 

“Okay, I want you to promise me that you will hang this up on your wall. Pinkie promise.” Donghyuck holds his now clean finger out like it’s a gun and he is demanding Mark for all his money. 

“I’m not putting it up if you made a dick or something.” 

“I didn’t just spend the last three hours making a shitty dick Mark, promise me.” Donghyuck waves his finger in the air and Mark grabs his wrist to just, stop him from moving for once. 

“Okay okay, fine. I’ll hang it up.” Mark interlocks his pinkie with the younger’s and shakes it around for good measure. 

Mark ignores the fact that this is the first time he’s _really_ touched the younger on his own terms since they broke up. 

Broke up, right, yeah. That.

Donghyuck tells Mark to close his eyes (no cheating!) and Mark waits for the cue to move his hands so he can finally look at whatever Donghyuck made him. 

“You can look.” Hyuck’s voice is soft and he feels so close to Mark that he almost jumps out of his own skin as a response. 

He moves his hands instead (real smooth) and let’s the light peek in and— _oh wow._

It’s, wow. Mark wished he had a bigger vocabulary just for this moment because all he can think is: _beautiful._

But it’s more than that. It’s breathtaking, showstopping, mouth-dropping, gorgeous. Maybe that’s just because Donghyuck made it. 

He made it for _him,_ Mark. Just Mark, no one else. 

The painting is a landscape, one most definitely made from Donghyuck’s endless imagination because it’s nothing like what Mark’s ever seen. 

And everything is just golden. The trees fill up most of the landscape and they are covered head to toe with leaves dusted in every autumn color and it’s just so warm. 

It’s so _Donghyuck._

He’s always been the more artistic one out of the both of them. Anything he touches really does turn into gold and Mark sees him everywhere in this painting. 

“I don’t know what to say.” Mark finally gets words out of his mouth that have been sitting heavily there on his tongue, just waiting. 

Donghyuck smiles, but it’s shy. Not even the coy one he throws around all the time, but honestly shy. Maybe even scared. 

“I love it.” _I love it more than I think I’ve ever loved anything._

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” 

Mark takes the canvas into his hands and brushes against the younger’s enough to send a spark straight into his chest; it hits his heart with a bullseye. 

He tells Donghyuck to start taking the lids off the diced tomato cans so they can start making the sauce together while he brings the painting into his bedroom.

Mark sets it down in the corner, right where his guitar sits and he just can’t wait to put it up. 

He’s so _excited_ to have Donghyuck back in his apartment again, even when the younger leaves. 

Mark shakes off that thought, not wanting it to bring his mood down. He’s happy right now, the anxious kind of happy that he first had when Donghyuck and him first started dating. 

And he won’t even beat around the bush, of course he likes Donghyuck still and maybe that was the reason why he ignored him for so long. 

Mark walks out of the bedroom and he gets a glimpse of Donghyuck dancing in the kitchen now listening to Twice and _Jesus Christ—_

He misses _him._ Mark misses Donghyuck so much, but he’s right there. 

Why does it feel like he is so impossibly far away?

  


  


**Day 6— Friday**

“ _You were beautiful_ is clearly the best song Day6 has put out, I won’t be taking constructive criticism. I said what I said.”

“No way! When _Shoot Me_ exists? Nah man, that’s the best song. Hands down.”

“Mark, it’s all about the yearning,” Donghyuck waves his hand like he is _Italian_ or something. “ _You were beautiful_ has got that and more.” 

Mark snorts into his beer bottle then thanks some higher power that he didn’t do it hard enough to get the liquid straight up his nose. Because God does that shit hurt. 

Donghyuck covers his mouth as he giggles at him (seems to be something he does a lot these days) and takes a sip from the ginger ale and vodka drink Mark mixed for him. 

He had a couple cans of ginger ale in the fridge that he totally forgot about (from the party last weekend). Good thing he had some cans leftover to make the younger a drink (read: favorite drink). 

“You know what, we are never gonna agree on this so let’s talk about something we both are on the same page about. Your _cooking._ ” 

Mark dodges the stack of old take-out napkins Donghyuck throws at him, laughing his ass off so hard that he almost falls off of the couch. 

“I didn’t mean to burn the pancakes this morning and you know it!” Donghyuck yells back, but his smile is burning and Mark remembers why his friends always call him: _sunshine._

The pancakes Donghyuck tried to make that morning were awful. There isn’t a nice way to say it, he simply just made something inedible and Mark will never (repeat: never) let him live it down.

Usually Donghyuck can manage to make the easiest of things aka his favorite things to eat. When it comes to western food though, he is truly the devil in the kitchen and cannot make jackshit. 

But shockingly, it was Donghyuck who woke up first this morning. Mark is up early most days because of the couch digging into his back uncomfortably no matter how much he moves and the windows letting in all the morning light. 

Somehow Donghyuck was able to move under Mark’s radar and sneak into the kitchen while he was quite literally passed out on the couch. Mark can’t remember ever sleeping that well on the couch.

What woke Mark up you ask? The smell of smoke. Okay the smell of smoke and Donghyuck cursing like a sailor.

Mark was able to get up quickly (somehow being half-asleep) and help Donghyuck take down the actual _fire_ he created. Good thing Mark got a fire extinguisher because of how often Johnny too sets his kitchen on fire. 

Honestly, Mark has never heard the younger apologize so much in his life. It was a lot more funny than anything else because Donghyuck was bright red with embarrassment and anger, but endearing nevertheless. 

Mark reminded him of the time where he burnt eggs into black ash months ago and that got Hyuck to start cursing at him. So back to normal seconds later. 

But it was nice.

Like this, this is nice. Sitting with Donghyuck on the couch, YouTube playing whatever the younger wanted to watch (Overwatch gameplays), frozen pizza in the oven and a couple drinks in their hands. 

Mark is trying his hardest to not compare it to all the nights they had while still dating, but it’s so hard not to? This is exactly what they did, to a ‘T’.

He can feel that itch again, the urge to move that stubborn piece of hair in front of Donghyuck’s face and put it behind his ear because Mark just wants to look him in the eye. 

It’s not too weird that Mark just wants to touch him right? That’s normal. This is normal. 

_Nah man you wanna fuck him— BING!_

“The pizza is done! I’ll get it, three slices with ranch on the side right?” Donghyuck gets up and Mark just nods. 

“Uh yeah, thanks.” Mark takes another swig of his beer and gulps it down like it’s tequila and he’s hoping for a bad morning.

Donghyuck comes back with two plates and another set of drinks for the both of them. Mark is impressed to say the least because Hyuck is (was) one of the most clumsy people he has ever met, _and yet._

“Wipe that dumb look off your face. I just got a job being a waiter at this one restaurant before this whole shitshow and it has really improved my motor skills.” Donghyuck says then sits down.

“Oh I also got the napkins off the floor, take one, you are always so fucking messy.”

They eat for a little bit until both of their phones ring with the same notification. University email. 

Mark puts down his food and sees Donghyuck do the same. Instead of grabbing his own phone, Hyuck puts his chin on Mark’s shoulder and reads the email from behind. 

Mark? Shits himself. 

“God, this fucking sucks. I hate online classes. This is just gonna be the worst.” Donghyuck mutters before throwing himself back against the couch and Mark nods his head in agreement. 

“I don’t mind taking one online class a semester, but all of them? What the fuck were they thinking that this is going to work?” Mark responds while still skimming through the email, but basically finds that their university is shitting bricks over this virus thing and going completely online. 

“Not like we would be able to go to class anyway. Thank God this all started at the beginning of Spring Break so we got that extra week that a lot of universities didn’t get.” Donghyuck goes back to drinking and Mark locks his phone to join him. 

“I think this could be a big bonding time for the whole world. This shit is so crazy? That it isn’t just us. That we can see memes from America that have the same shit going on? It’s insane.” 

Mark smiles to himself while he picks his phone back up. He goes to Instagram to look at all the Tweets (you know how Instagram works) about the virus. 

He translates all of them to Donghyuck and loves to hear his responses on ones that hit the cultural barrier: _what the fuck does ‘no cap’ mean?_

Honestly, Mark could write wax poetry about this night right here, right now. 

They end up both agreeing that: _can’t believe i’m witnessing history textbook content in real life,_ is the best Tweet they found all night because it’s true. 

They are living through history that they will tell their kids, even their grandkids, and that is crazy to think about if you sit on it for too long. 

But right now Mark is living through history. All the history he’s had with Donghyuck and for some reason, he is not minding it at all. 

Not one bit.

  


  


**Day 7— Saturday**

Both of them are hungover the next day which is shocking because Mark didn’t think he had enough alcohol to get hungover. 

But it’s not like they have anywhere to go right? So who cares. Okay, that was a little harsh. 

Mark isn’t in a _bad_ mood persay, but he isn’t in the greatest one either. 

Remember when Mark said he didn’t mind reliving history with Donghyuck, going down memory road and shitting out rainbows because Mark _was happy again._

Well, Mark also gets to relive the history of how annoying Donghyuck can get when he gets extremely bored. 

They have made it halfway through quarantine (yippee, set off some fireworks); however, Mark can visibly see the twitch Hyuck has developed at the corner of his left eye. This is the tell-tale sign that Mark doesn’t have a lot of time before he starts to go crazy. 

And when Donghyuck goes crazy, that means Mark is also going to lose his mind in efforts of trying to find the younger’s. 

After eating instant ramen to cure their hangovers (which didn’t work, but at least they were full now), Donghyuck has taken over the couch bitching and moaning about quite literally everything and anything he can.

“Mark, what’s the point of a Saturday if you can’t drink with everyone you know? There’s no point. Zero, zip, nada.” Donghyuck whines and kicks his feet like a toddler; Mark just rolls his eyes. 

He already told Hyuck to start reading up on all the emails their professors have been sending the past week about how classes will work online after Spring Break. 

The response? A tongue in Mark’s face. Real original, huh. 

So Mark has been ignoring him since then to try and keep his own sanity in check. But it can only last so long until Donghyuck actually causes Mark to tear out his own hair.

“ _Mark—_ ” 

“Stop! I’m stopping you, right there.” Mark throws his head up from his laptop and slams his hands down on the coffee table. 

_It’s time._

“I know you are bored, and I know you won’t take my advice. And I know you wish you could be anywhere but here right now. I do too.” 

Donghyuck looks taken back when Mark finally makes eye contact with him. That might be because the kid is hanging his head off at the foot of the couch causing all the blood to rush to his brain.

Mark sighs and scratches his head before shutting his laptop closed. Breathe, just breathe. 

“I still have stuff from when we did our Spa Days or whatever. If you want to do that.” 

Realistically, Donghyuck only smiles at Mark before tumbling off the couch. But Mark likes to believe that his face lit up like a Christmas tree in pure joy that Mark has _something_ for him to do. 

Donghyuck is, however, the one to rush into the bathroom while Mark follows slowly behind. By the time Mark gets there, Donghyuck is already sitting on the tile floor getting all of the supplies out from under the sink.

“I can’t believe you have all of this still.” Donghyuck says mostly to himself when looking through all the nail polish Mark bought Hyuck specifically for these nights. 

Mark doesn’t want to respond with: _well, I was hoping we would’ve gotten back together to use it again._

And he really doesn’t want to respond with: _never got around to throwing it away._

But both are the truth and well, that’s what got Mark into this “mess” in the first place. 

“Do you want me to do your nasty ass toes first or hands?” Mark settles with and that seemed to be the best answer because Donghyuck is leaning against him like they never broke up in the first place. 

And God, he would never say it outloud, but Mark _yearns._

In the same fashion of how they used to do their Spa Days, Mark paints Hyuck’s nails (his favorite color, a sky blue) first then paints his own pinkie finger the same color. 

They mostly did that to show that they were together because Hyuck found it adorable, but it won’t cause any harm if no one sees it right? Quarantine and all that. 

Mark will be honest in saying that he missed Donghyuck’s massages though. Kid has magic hands (get your head out of the gutter). 

Honestly, Mark has been craving a massage on his calves for the last month since pulling something when he was trying a new basketball move. Now he can actually walk around without wincing all the time. 

After doing face masks (Mark’s idea), massages (... Mark’s idea), and trimming their toenails (okay these are all Mark’s ideas), he finally remembered what they would do at the end of their Spa Days. 

Easy answer is you know, they would fuck, but the better answer is that they would take a bath together. 

Mark would put all these essential oils in the hot bath that Hyuck really liked and let the younger put a bath bomb to make it all nice. Sometimes they would have candles if they really got into it. 

And it seems like Donghyuck remembered just around the same time Mark did. 

“Oh— uh, you can take a bath if you want to. Because you were the bored one in the first place.” Mark spits out looking everywhere, but at the man before him. Jesus, they need to clean the mirrors. 

He can hear Donghyuck swallow nervously and for some reason it makes Mark happy that he is just as uncomfortable as he is. 

“I still have some bath bombs so yeah, uh, do what you want I guess.” Mark smiles, but it feels as forced as it could possibly be. 

_Not really feeling the whole vibe of thinking about my ex naked after he was the one to break up with me,_ Mark moves to the door, but is stopped by a hand resting on his elbow. 

_Oh Jesus please don’t ask me to join, please don’t ask me, please don’t ask—_

“Mark you said that outloud.” Donghyuck's voice surrounds Mark and his heart cracks enough to pull his shoulders down. Oh fuck me, not again. 

“Do we need to talk about this right now?” Mark asks just trying to push through the conversation fast enough before Hyuck thinks it’s a good time to _talk._

He hopes that there is enough desperation in his own voice to hopefully have Donghyuck realize he is trying to tell him: _fuck off._

“You did, you broke up with me,” Mark coughs at his own words and shakes his head. “and I just— this isn’t the time.” _It was never supposed to be the time._

Mark never wants to talk about this whole fucking thing with literally anyone ever again. But he especially doesn’t want to talk about it with Donghyuck because what they have right now is good, well good enough. 

Mark doesn’t want it to get bad again. 

Donghyuck lets go of Mark’s arm and lets the older man open the door to leave. When he finally turns around, he can see how disappointed Hyuck looks because he wears all of his emotions strong on his face and wait, what?

_Disappointed?_

“Wait Donghyuck—” But before Mark can finish, the younger one closes the door with a click, leaving Mark wondering what the fuck he did wrong, again. 

Because it’s always Mark’s fault, huh. Always.

  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah fuck mark, what did you do??????
> 
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/travelingsymphony)


	2. just know that i'm still here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So last night happened, and well. They are pretending that it Did Not. 
> 
> (Or, maybe to come back together, you have to fall apart and pick up the pieces first).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all see that angst tag? yeah… uh **trigger warnings** for a panic attack and idk, there is a bloody nose scene if you are sensitive to that kind of stuff. good luck! see you on the other side~~  
> 

  


  


**Day 8— Sunday**

So last night happened, and well. They are pretending that it Did Not. 

And there is something in Mark that is really happy that they aren’t talking about it because like he said, he’d rather die than have that conversation again. 

But there is also something _feral_ in him that is just tearing up his insides to scream at Donghyuck because he’s just so fucking angry at him that he can’t even put it to words. 

Okay, wait. Cross that out, he’s not angry, he’s just sad. Mark is _really_ sad, and not the simple kind of sad. 

He’s the type of sad that cannot be fixed with a good time with friends or watching his favorite movie. Not the type of sad a mom could brush away when giving their child a hug after not seeing them for months due to going to school overseas. Not the type of sad that washes down the drain or leaves after a good night’s rest. 

It is the type of sad that evolves, the type of sad that walks on two feet and has a face scarily similar to Mark’s that knocks on the front door and doesn’t wait for an answer. 

Mark has the type of sad that just walks in and makes itself at home like a roommate who is always late on rent. 

Aka Mark is fucking depressed and honestly, it’s nothing new persay, but it hurts in all the olds way and in new ways now too.

Donghyuck did a good job wiping the stains of it away, sort of like a window cleaner. He would brace himself with no armor against high winds when washing away Mark’s suffering like he was cleaning the tallest skyscraper walls. 

But the thing is, all buildings get dirty again. Rain always comes back around no matter what season and it washes all the dirt and dust down, down, _down_ until you are drowning in it. 

And Mark is getting dirty again. No matter how long he stands in the shower and scrubs himself raw, he always gets out feeling just as gross as he did before getting in. 

It is mostly frustrating because it gets in the way of his daily life, but Mark has done a pretty good job of learning how to either ignore it or suppress it. 

But with Donghyuck here, in his space after a couple months of being nowhere to be found, Mark can’t really do either. 

Because Hyuck was (is, let’s be honest) so _caring._ Anytime Mark had a Bad Day, he was the first to notice and the first to say: _talk about it, you will feel so much better after you do._

In true Donghyuck fashion, he was right. 

So here is Mark now, at his boiling point and he just knows that something (literally anything) will make his top pop off. And he’s _scared._

But mostly, Mark can’t believe his life is starting to read like a Taylor Swift album going from _We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together_ all the way to _Back to December._

He let Hyuck go shopping for the week again. Mark just needed some alone time and he really wishes he had his bedroom to himself right now so he could crawl under the blankets and rot. 

But alas, past Mark decided to be the bigger man even when he should have _fought_ for his own Goddamn room. 

_Nope, not even gonna think about any version of the word ‘fight’, including fought._

Mark is so stuck in his own head that he doesn’t even notice Donghyuck’s return, not until he hears the door slam, making him grind his teeth together. 

How many times has he told him _not_ to do that? Too many to fucking keep count. 

“I’m back and I brought gifts!” Donghyuck’s voice twinkles in the air and it sends a shiver down Mark’s back. 

God, he’s running out of time and he still has another _week._ Fuck.

“Whatcha get?” Mark plays along like they almost didn’t get into the fight of the century last night. 

Mark is never gonna live this down (never let himself live it down). Jesus, this is going to cast a shadow on him for the next year and yes, the next whole-ass year. 

He walks into the kitchen with slow feet that almost get rug burn from _how slow_ he is moving. Donghyuck whips around to face the older and is clearly hiding something behind his back. 

He has a small smile on his face, and ah, it’s the coy look. 

“Guess what I have.”

Mark holds in a sigh and pretends that this is normal because clearly it is normal for the younger. 

“Mmmm, maybe you got— hmmm, strawberries?”

“You are no fucking fun,” Donghyuck groans, easily knowing Mark is pulling his leg. “Here!”

Hyuck rips his hands from behind his back so fast that it must hurt. But what he holds in his hands causes Mark’s heart clench in a way it hasn’t in a while. 

Banana milk and a dozen freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, Mark’s favorites, alongside cubed watermelon of which he still has the second container from last week (score). 

And yes, he knows they are quite stereotypical “favorite snacks” and not that hard to remember but it still causes his heart to bloom even in all the dirty water that currently surrounds it. 

“Thanks Hyuck.” Mark whispers as he takes the snacks from the other’s hands. He makes a point to not brush against him and wonders if Donghyuck realizes that.

_I guess this could be his way of showing a truce, and at this point I will take it._

“No problem.” 

Mark can see words resting on Hyuck’s lips, the same words that carefully tried to clean some stubborn grime off of Mark on really bad days. 

But the words stay sitting on his tongue, never reaching the light of day, and Mark lets them. 

Later that night, Donghyuck pulls out a puzzle (3000 pieces, let's get it) and the two of them sit in silence trying to separate the pieces in different sections. 

There is tension in the air, but not enough for Mark to even care about fixing. It will either go away on it’s own, or it won’t. Again, Mark doesn’t really care. 

Well, he continues to not care until Donghyuck’s phone goes off. 

The younger has never been really good at hiding his facial expressions and this is no different because brightness washes over him like an ocean wave. 

He looks happy, like _really_ happy. 

_He looks like a full sun and he used to look at you like that,_ Mark thinks to himself and has to forcefully shake his own head to get the thought out of his mind. 

“I have to take this, I’ll be right back.” Donghyuck almost _squeals_ and something ugly rears it’s head in Mark’s brain. 

Hyuck doesn’t even have the decency to have the bedroom door closed when he answers the phone with a: _hi babe,_ but the door shuts right after that and the apartment is shockingly quiet.

_Hi babe, of course,_ Mark lays down on the ground and stares at the ceiling for the millionth time since quarantining. 

_Of course he isn’t single, of course he isn’t because Donghyuck is Hyuck and I’m just me._

Mark can’t stop himself from thinking about the worst part of all of this: _he was never really mine to begin with._

Honestly, Mark never stood a chance of keeping something so _clean_ as Donghyuck. And Mark cares, maybe even too much. 

_Pop!_

  


  


**Day 9— Monday**

“Oh _Mark—_ ” Donghyuck’s voice carries from the kitchen counter into the living room where Mark is trying (read: trying) to do his accounting homework. 

“I need help again Mark! The screen keeps freezing!” 

Mark puts down his pencil with intense vigor and wipes his hands down his face. He is trying to pull all the tension out of it due to not sleeping at all last night, but fails. 

_Time to play superhero again._

“What now.” Mark asks with no question in his voice. 

To put it simply: Donghyuck sucks at technology. You’d think someone born in Generation Z could figure out how to hack the FBI; however, Hyuck cannot even log in to his email without contracting some sort of computer virus that will wreak havoc for _months._

Man, he could just touch the keyboard, and it will start _smoking_ (true story, do NOT even ask). 

“I didn’t do anything!” His hands are in the air as if he wasn’t messing around with it seconds earlier and Mark can see the frozen screen with a clearly annoyed professor’s face stuck in place. 

Mark waves for him to move off the high-top chair which Hyuck so gladly does. With a couple clicks here and there, Mark is able to get his professor’s face back in motion and— 

“Mr. Lee, are you there? Mr. Lee— oh you aren’t Mr. Lee.” The professor squawks and Mark only laughs to himself: _not the Mr. Lee you were expecting, but one all the same._

“I’m here Doc! This is my— uh, this is Mark. Sorry that my computer froze, it won’t happen again.” Donghyuck yells a lot louder than necessary and it echoes against the tile all the while pushing Mark’s face out of frame. 

The younger gives him a thumbs-up in thanks and Mark just nods his head in response before going back into the living room to try and figure out how budgeting works in the grand scheme of Managerial Accounting. 

But his mind has other plans. 

_This is my— uh, this is Mark._

_This is my—_

_My—_

_Stop it, Mark,_ but his head is getting _so loud_ these days and Mark cannot believe a little altercation that didn’t even really happen is what’s causing him to go into a depressive episode. 

Not the ‘no going outside, 6 feet apart, the world is rotting from the inside out’ bullshit. 

Only Mark could fall apart because of something so small, it truly is his forte. 

The day goes by slowly, maybe it’s because Spring Break is finally over and now they are entering Spring Break part two featuring useless classes (mixtape out soon). 

Useless because the university sent out an email this morning about students having the choice to take a ‘pass/fail’ grade if they wanted to. So _useless_ useless. 

Mark suffers through accounting and pretends to not hate his major while Donghyuck chats with his classmates over Zoom that Mark has had to help the younger use one too many times. 

It isn’t awful. Sure Mark’s laptop crashes a couple times causing him to lose all of his homework (which almost puts him into tears), but that is mostly because his laptop is shit. 

But he does miss sitting next to Yukhei like he usually would. He misses seeing his _stupid_ doodles of ugly men on his notes and his _stupid_ big-ass headphones that Mark secretly wants. 

Mark misses the outside world a little too much to handle and it’s only Monday. God knows the week can only get better, but Mark has his doubts if it’s starting off like this. 

It’s nighttime when Donghyuck finally leaves the kitchen, laptop tucked under his arm as he enters the living room to see Mark still slaving away like he has a midterm coming up, which he doesn’t. 

He quietly decides to make dinner and Mark is thankful because he really doesn’t have the brain power today to do it himself. 

Donghyuck comes back in the room sometime after with a bowl of fried rice and a cup of hot coffee. He places it down in front of Mark after pushing all of his homework away.

“You’ll never call it a night if you don’t stop now.” Donghyuck says quietly and Mark appreciates that Hyuck still knows him like the back of his hand. 

After Mark eats and puts away his dishes, Donghyuck knocks his knuckles against the kitchen wall. Mark looks up confused, but hides his facial expression under lock and key when he sees the younger’s. 

_He’s nervous._

“Uh— I was thinking we could watch a movie? But in your, um, in your bedroom if that is okay? The couch has been bugging my back recently.” Donghyuck asks, but his eyes are stuck looking at his own dancing hands.

Everything in Mark is screaming at him to say: _no! Red alert, abort abort ABORT. He has a new, new, NEW boyfriend. And that isn’t YOU!_

So of course he says— “Yeah that sounds good to me.” 

It’s weird. Watching Donghyuck walk in front of him knowing that they are going to be laying in the same bed together. In a bed that they had shared many nights before. 

They both change facing different directions as if they haven’t seen each other naked and get into bed silently. Mark doesn’t even get under his own covers due to his hands shaking too hard. 

He lets Donghyuck pull up YouTube and chokes on a laugh when he chooses “Contagion” for them to watch.

“I thought it was about time. Can’t be that bad right?” Donghyuck explains for himself and all Mark wants to do is tell him that he doesn’t care and that he will never need an explanation for the younger’s train of thought. 

_I know you like the back of my hand still too._

The lights are off and the only background noise is the train that passes Mark’s apartment every now and then. The movie plays and Mark is happy that it has Korean subtitles so he doesn’t have to translate the whole thing. 

He can feel Donghyuck inch closer and closer to him; by halfway through the movie, Donghyucks whole side is pressed against Mark’s. 

And he just lets it happen because why the hell not? Not like Mark will tell the ‘new’ boyfriend. 

What he doesn’t realize is how heavy his eyes are getting and how comfortable Donghyuck’s body heat is. He can’t remember the last time he has been so at peace (yes he does, it was in this same position but flashback to the beginning of the year before—). 

Mark’s asleep before he can think twice about the consequences to follow the next morning.

  


  


**Day 10— Tuesday**

Mark has never been through a hurricane, cyclone, or typhoon and he is quite happy about that because he is positive that he would drown (that’s what happens during those types of storms right). 

But he is pretty sure it would feel like something akin to this. Mark wakes up in the eye of the storm and he doesn’t even know it. 

Sleep is still heavy in his body; he can barely open his eyes without getting sucked back out to the sea of dreams which he allows himself to do a couple times. 

But finally something catches his eye. Light bleeds into the room through the blinds and hits _something_ that just glows golden. 

The color is familiar and Mark wants to bathe in it, just for a moment. So golden, that it reminds Mark of the painting Donghyuck made him. But luckily that’s in _his bedroom._

_Oh no._

Mark’s eyes flick open wide and alert; his body suddenly feels like it’s on fire. He sits up so quickly that he almost gives himself whiplash, but more importantly, he brings something up with him. 

He looks down to see a sight that he never thought he would ever be able to see again. 

Donghyuck pouts as he squints his eyes due to the sudden movement. A whine leaves his mouth and Mark shakes in anxiety filled fear. 

_Oh God what have I done? What have I done, what have I done, what have I done—_

He is frozen in place when Donghyuck flops back down on the bed, curling into the heat of where Mark was previously laying. 

“Go back to sleep, it’s too early.” The younger mumbles into the pillow and snuggles himself into the comforter. 

And what does Mark do? Well, he loses his mind.

“What the _fuck_ Donghyuck?” Mark questions with a voice too loud for what the morning calls for, but it alerts the younger enough to pull himself back up into a sitting position.

“What do you mean?” Donghyuck asks while lazily rubbing his eyes free of sleep, like this isn’t happening right now. 

Mark can’t stop shaking, he can’t tell if he is angry, scared, or both. But he is something that can only be described as unstable and he can hear the howling of the wind right outside the bedroom window. 

“I— why am I here? Why am I sleeping here? What the fuck _do you mean_ by ‘what do you mean’?” Mark’s voice is shrill and it hurts his own ears. 

He can visibly see Donghyuck’s face understand where this conversation is going and suddenly, the boy in front of him shuts down. 

_No, not this, not this please. Please don’t go hiding, not again._

“You fell asleep last night during the movie so I let you sleep. You looked like shit yesterday and I can tell you aren’t sleeping again.” Donghyuck pulls up the covers to protect himself from the cold room around them that only seems to be getting colder. 

“You could have woken me up. I just— I don’t understand. What, why— “

“Oh spit it out already.” Donghyuck snarls and it just adds fuel to the fire that is sworming Mark’s insides. 

“Why did you let me sleep with you when _you were the one to break up with me_?” Mark screams and Donghyuck is taken back. 

_Boom._

His heart is racing and Mark can’t hear, he can’t think, he can’t breathe. The blood is rushing so fast through his head that he can barely even remember why he is so panicked but he knows it’s because something is wrong.

Something is so incredibly wrong. 

“Oh for fucks sake Mark. We just slept! We didn’t even _touch each other_ because you were as stiff as a fucking wooden plank. And here you are _spiralling_ because you woke next to me? God, and now you want to talk about our break-up, _what the fuck is wrong with you_?” Donghyuck hisses and now it is Mark’s turn to shrink away. 

_What the fuck is wrong with you._

The wind stops and everything's calm. Mark can only hear white noise and his own breath leaving his lungs. He focuses on the wall behind Donghyuck’s head and spaces out. 

Mark’s fault, it’s Mark’s fault. Right, right, _right._

And Donghyuck can see it all, it lays bare as Mark’s heart stops then settles. Mark can see the younger’s face out of the corner of his eye twitch then flounder as he realizes what he said and the weight of his words. 

_What the fuck is wrong with you._

“Wait Mark— “ 

But the older untangles himself from the sheets. His legs feel raw against the material, and he needs to get out of the bed before he makes it any more _dirty_ than what damage he has already done. 

“Don’t walk away. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have— I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean it Mark.” He feels Donghyuck grab the hem of his sweatshirt and Mark just looks down at the younger with glazed over eyes. 

“Yes you did.” Mark says and Hyuck immediately drops his shirt as if it burnt him. 

Mark walks out of the room with fire licking at his heels; he slams the door and curses himself for doing it. He hopes that Donghyuck knows what is good for him and stays in the Goddamn room. 

He thinks he hears: _I fucking hate you and I’m happy I’m going to be gone in a couple days because you make my life so much harder than it needs to be,_ but he knows it is his own mind playing tricks on him as it claws at his brain, turning it into goo. 

He has the urge to grip at his hair and _pull it out,_ but he stops himself by grabbing at the couch cushions so hard that his knuckles turn a worryingly bright white color. 

_Breathe Mark, you can do it, just breathe._

And he sits there for hours, clenching and unclenching the poor cushion. He stares at absolutely nothing and tries to figure out if he is truly in his own body. 

He doesn’t realize Donghyuck is sitting in front of him until the younger kneels down and touches him, both of his hands resting on Mark’s thighs. They are warm and Mark flinches back.

“Mark, go to bed.” Donghyuck whispers and Mark looks at him with the same heart wrenching emptiness he had when they first broke up. 

He moves like a robot, but is sane enough to push off the hand that is gently leading him to his room. Once Mark passes the door and is safely out of reach of the boy— man, behind him, he turns around. 

“I’m so sorry— “ But the words fall onto dead ears. 

Mark just closes the door, slides down until his knees reach the carpet, and more or less cries like a fucking baby. 

_So much for good enough._

And in the not-so-far distance, the window in the living room is being slammed shut too.

  


  


**Day 11— Wednesday**

Mark doesn’t overreact often, but when he does, it is so extreme that it would make anyone concerned to the highest degree. 

He blames the time back in kindergarten when another boy put a centipede down his shirt and he screamed bloody murder for three hours straight. They had to call his mom and pull her from work so she could try to calm him down and that still took well over an hour. 

It’s been all downhill since then. 

So he isn’t shocked with the way he reacted the day before, but is haunted by it enough to not sleep that night. 

Because honestly, that was _awful._ Mark hasn’t really blown up like that _ever,_ let alone on Donghyuck who is probably shitting bricks right now just outside his door. 

Something in Mark snapped and he knew it was going to happen, he knew it was going to be bad, but he could have never expected something as collateral as that. 

If Mark’s mental breakdown was an earthquake, it would have been an impossible magnitude 10 that cracked the whole circumference of the Earth, shaking and shattering everything in it’s path. 

But Donghyuck had it coming, right? Surely he did.

He broke up with Mark because of Mark’s inability to be his own person, to have his own backbone, it got so bad that Hyuck thought _he_ was sucking the life out of Mark. 

But Mark can only think: _did Donghyuck ever wonder if I was spineless because I’m just naturally like that? Did he ever think about how I went with the flow because I wanted to follow him to the end’s of the Earth and didn’t mind if I fell into Hell instead?_

_Did he ever wonder if I did all of this because I loved him so much that I put him first and me second and I was okay with that?_

It eats at Mark like a parasite. It just grew bigger and _bigger_ as the days got longer and _longer._ Then poof! Donghyuck is back in Mark’s life, stuck in his apartment, and Mark was supposed to be okay with that?

Donghyuck was an ugly magic trick that the Universe played on him at the worst possible time. 

So Mark would like to reiterate: _fuck you, Universe._

It is later that day when Mark remembers that he has a phone. He finds it under the pillow Donghyuck was sleeping on, the pillow Mark refused to touch since the new and improved ‘Incident’ in fear it would disappear if he did so. 

He brings his phone to life and sees a tsunami's worth of text on his lockscreen. _Shit._

_Yesterday_

**From: na na na na na (JAEMIN)**  
14:22: mark i need you to answer the phone  
14:22: donghyuck just called me??? he was a wreck???  
14:23: he told me you freaked the fuck out what’s wrong mark  
14:26: mark you need to answer me  
14:44: mark??????

 **From: renjunnie-hunie**  
15:12: mark if you don’t answer jaemin is going to bash down your door.  
15:13: quarantine be damned I WILL BASH DOWN YOUR DOOR!!!!!!!  
15:16: dude please answer we are like, really worried about you ):

 **From: lee #5**  
17:03: Yo, just want you to know we called Donghyuck, again  
17:03: He told us you are at least alive so that’s good I guess  
17:04: Please call any of us after you read this  
17:04: Love you a lot Mark Lee <3

Mark feels bad, worse than bad. Again this would be a great time for Mark to have a larger vocabulary than a third grader because he feels something way worse than bad and little more worse than awful. 

He calls Jaemin, the call can’t even finish ringing once because the younger picks up the phone in a very apparent frenzy.

“Oh my God Mark. Hi. Are you okay? What is going on? What happened?” Jaemin rambles too fast for Mark to even process and luckily he doesn’t. He can hear fighting in the background and the phone changing hands. 

“Shut the fuck up Jaemin, you are too worked up— hey Mark. It’s Renjun.” The voice crackles over the line and Mark smiles to himself.

“Hey hunie.”

“How are you doing right now?”

Mark pauses before he speaks, he knows that lying would be useless right now so he decides that maybe the truth won’t hurt him as much as he thinks it will.

“Not okay.” Mark whispers and he can hear a hum over the phone. 

“That’s okay. You don’t have to feel okay. You are in a pretty _horrible_ situation right now.” Renjun almost cooes and Mark hates how comforting it is to hear his friend’s voice. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t called more over this whole mess. Both the Donghyuck thing and the world ending due to a virus thing.” Mark’s voice comes out watery and he really doesn’t want to cry, but he just feels so _bad_ right now because he is such a shit friend. 

“It’s okay Mark, really.” _It doesn’t feel okay though._

Mark waits for someone else to talk, not knowing how to respond to Renjun’s last statement unless it is in some self-deprecating way which no one needs right now (or ever). 

“You wanna talk about yesterday?”

_Easy answer: no, not really. But I should anyway._

So Mark talks away, he doesn’t leave out any details of what happened and what he was thinking the whole time during his ‘Freak Out’ as Donghyuck put it. 

Honestly when Mark thinks about it now, he just hates how _casual_ Donghyuck was sleeping in the same bed with him when he clearly has another guy somewhere else waiting for him. 

When Mark says that over the phone, he is cut off for the first time during his whole vent session. 

“Wait, Donghyuck has a _new guy_? He’s never mentioned anything about that and we just talked!” Jaemin yells over the phone pissed as fuck.

Mark wishes he had a phone cord to twirl with his fingers, but he has nothing other than the gross bedsheets. God, he needs to wash these (fuck, the mirror still needs to be cleaned too). 

“Well yeah. I didn’t know until he got a call from him or something on Sunday night.” Mark mumbles as he pulls at the seams of his pillow case. 

The phone call goes silent, quiet enough for Mark to check if the call is still connected (and it is, weird). 

“That’s impossible, I was on the phone with him on Sunday night.” Jaemin says. 

_Wait, huh?_

“Really? Then why the hell did he answer it with: _hi babe_?” Mark asks and his voice is getting shrill again, he needs to stop panicking Jesus Christ. 

“Because we always answer each other like that Mark? You know this!” Mark can tell Jaemin has the phone now because he is really loud in his ear. 

“Okay, the moral of the story is that you guys seriously need to talk. Actually talk like adults because I promise you, and you know I don’t ever make promises, but it won’t be as scary as you think.” Renjun’s voice is distant, but has all the same power Mark has grown to love. 

Mark sits there and wishes this wasn’t happening during a global pandemic. But maybe it is better that it is because he can’t run away from it any longer, no matter how hard he tries to. 

“Okay, I— we’ll talk.”

  


  


**Day 12— Thursday**

_Donghyuck is literally the opposite of scary, just talk to him,_ Mark tries to give himself a pep talk but is failing incredibly. 

And it’s not like he hasn’t seen him? Mark still had to go to the bathroom and had to eat food so he was in the kitchen too. 

Donghyuck just kept his eyes glued on the TV and Mark just looked at his own ugly ass feet when walking around. So there is no reason to be terrified to _see_ the younger, but talking? Making eye contact?

That shit is making Mark shake so bad that he might vibrate through the floor. He waited until nighttime to talk this through because it rained all day and it felt too cliche to have this conversation during shitty weather. 

_You can do this, prove you have a backbone._

“Let’s get it.” Mark says to himself when he opens the bedroom door. What he doesn’t expect is a loud thud followed by a strangled gasp, then a classic: _ah fuck!_

“Wait, what the hell Donghyuck?” Mark goes straight into: _are you okay,_ mode that he completely forgets what he was just about to do 2.5 seconds ago. 

Because there Donghyuck is in all of his gross-ass glory: a hand covering his nose as it starts dripping blood because he was standing _that_ close to the door, and to do what?

Doesn’t even matter anymore. Operation: Nurse Mark is a go. 

“Come on.” Mark rolls his eyes, but grabs the younger’s wrist to pull him into the bathroom to help him with his stupid bloody nose.

The first thing Mark thinks when entering the bathroom is: _where the hell did I put the First Aid kit?_

But the second thought is: _oh, the mirrors are clean._

Mark has a small smile resting on his lips after that thought as he searches for the First Aid kit. He pushes Hyuck to sit on the toilet seat and to keep still, but the younger whines instead. 

“It’s not that bad I swear.” Donghyuck says, but his voice is stuffy due to holding his nose together to stop the blood from running down his face. 

“Ah! Found it.”

Mark hits the hand off of Donghyuck’s nose and the younger hisses in pain. He puts a pad over his nose and tells the younger to hold his head back, and no Mark doesn’t care about the blood running to the back of his throat. 

“But the _blood—_ ” 

“Just do it you big baby.”

So that is where they find themselves. In the bathroom, Mark sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest and Donghyuck sitting on the Goddamn toilet, head tilted back looking like a complete fool. 

The sight of this stupid, _stupid_ kid and everything leading up to this moment bubble over. Mark can’t help, but start laughing. It starts soft and quiet, but slowly becomes grand in the way of how dramatic everything is and has been the last couple of days. 

Donghyuck turns his head down enough for Mark to see him look at the older like he has finally lost his mind and you know what, maybe Mark has. 

After a couple minutes of uncontrollable laughter, Mark brings it back down to a string of giggles as he wipes the tears off of his aching cheeks. 

“I’m sorry, I must look like I’m crazy and maybe I am, but holy shit do I feel so much better after that.” Mark stutters out with a bright smile on his face.

“Just a little crazy.” Donghyuck honks out and it is almost enough to send Mark into another laughing fit, but he holds himself back. 

“Why were you even that close to the door?” Mark asks with an eyebrow raised and he can see the younger’s cheeks turn a pleasant pink color. 

“I— well, I was gonna check up on you, you know?” Hyuck mutters out and Mark can feel his own cheeks become warm. 

“Beat you to it, huh.” Mark giggles (just a little) and Donghyuck smiles. 

The younger finally releases his nose to move the pad around, but finds that his nose has stopped bleeding. He scrunches up his nose and Mark has to stop himself from swooning at the sight. 

Mark continues to sit while Donghyuck washes the blood off his hands in the sink. He dries them on the towel for a bit before turning around to face Mark. 

“Do you want to talk in here or…” 

Mark shrugs in response.

“Sure, why not.” 

Donghyuck sits beside him and Mark is more than thankful for that so he doesn’t have to make eye contact if he so wishes. 

They both stay quiet, but Mark knows it is because Donghyuck wants him to speak up first which is fine. Mark should be the one starting off anyway. 

“I’m— I’m sorry for how I have acted over the past couple days. That must have been scary for you to see.” Mark starts off and it seems to be the safest thing to say. 

“Scary is an understatement, but after talking to the guys, I sort of got it.” Donghyuck says and Mark has never been so happy for other people to be involved in his shit. God bless his friends. 

“This whole pandemic thing has just got me crazy and honestly, no offense, having you here has made it a lot harder I guess. Uh— I was still trying to, you know, get over you then this whole thing happened and it was just weird to have you here, in my space again when I wasn’t really ready for it.” 

Mark speaks as slow as he can so it doesn’t sound like a freight train is coming out of his mouth. He deems his speaking tactic successful when Donghyuck nods along. 

“I’m sorry that I got into your space. It’s been weird for me too, you know?” Donghyuck forces a smile and Mark is left thinking of what he just said. 

He never thought about it being hard for Donghyuck too, even though he broke up with him, he still lost something too. 

“When I came over two weekends ago, for your party, uh— I wanted to talk to you about us. That was the plan until I noticed how fucking wasted you were so I just got wasted too. I didn’t mean to pass out in your bed, but it was familiar and I just did.” Donghyuck laughs to himself, but Mark is as attentive as ever. 

“What did you want to talk about exactly?”

  


  


**Day 13— Friday**

“I wanted to talk about us then, but we have changed haven’t we? During all of this, this being, you know, us forced together I guess.” Donghyuck asks and Mark can’t help, but agree. 

It hits midnight while Donghyuck and he are sitting on the tile floor. It shocks Mark to think that they only have one more day of this until quarantine is officially over for the time being and how real life will return. 

He pushes that thought away and thinks about the present and only the present. It’s the only thing that matters to Mark. 

“When I first came over, I wanted to talk to you about feeling well, sad. It wasn’t easy for me to just end the relationship the way I did and I just— I wanted to talk to you about it because you were my best friend too, before all of this.” Donghyuck sounds sad and it is unfamiliar for Mark to hear it. 

Not like Hyuck was always sunshine and rainbows, but Mark has never seen him like this. So torn up over something. Mark almost can’t believe someone is this torn up over _him._

“You were my best friend too.” Mark says and it causes Donghyuck to smile just a bit. Mark calls it a win and puts it into an invisible pocket in his mind. 

“After being here for a week, I realized that I wasn’t sad that we aren't together anymore. I missed being _here_ and being with _you._ You take me in stride so well and even when I bother the shit out of you, you just _take it._ No one has put time into me like that.” 

The younger looks at Mark and _holy shit_ is he breathtaking, bruised nose and all. 

“When I broke up with you, I wanted you to fight back, you know?” Donghyuck’s voice is strong, but his eyes tell a different story. He looks like he is one word away from falling apart which Mark doesn’t blame him for because he is right there with him. 

“You wanted me to fight you?” Mark asks slowly because if there is one thing about Mark that he truly wishes he could change is his fear of arguing with people he loves. 

“Yeah, as stupid as it sounds,” Donghyuck shakes his head and sighs. “I was so fed-up with you just going with whatever I said that I just, I thought that maybe you’d fight for this. Fight for us, but I should have known better.” 

“I knew you wouldn’t fight back because I know you hate fighting, but I did it anyway. And when you didn’t fight back, I just thought: _well maybe he isn’t fighting back because he doesn’t want it anymore._ ” 

Mark didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he lets out a shaky sigh. Donghyuck looks at him and Mark can see the tears in his eyes just about to spill over and thinks: _same._

“The reason why I didn’t fight back was because I thought _you_ didn’t want it anymore. I never wanted to put you in a position where you felt cornered.” Mark whispers. 

He starts to tap a beat against his knees out of pure anxiety and realizes it is the distant heartbeat of the person right in front of him. 

“God Mark, I’m so _sorry,_ ” Donghyuck sobs out suddenly and Mark's heart breaks at the sight. “I should have never done that to you because you are so kind and I just— you’re right, I do whatever I want and don’t pay attention to anyone else, but myself. _It’s my fault._ ”

Mark wraps an arm around the younger who is shaking like a fallen leaf. He rubs a hand against his back and wishes he was in a better position to rock Donghyuck back and forth. 

“Shhh, it’s okay. Just breathe with me.” Mark murmurs while Hyuck cries. 

“This is all my fault and I just always blamed you. Blamed you when you were lying, blamed you when you were telling the truth, blamed you when you just sat there and I’m sorry Mark. You didn’t deserve that.” Donghyuck hiccups and beats himself over it with a damn broom. 

“Hey look at me,” Mark puts a finger under Donghyuck’s chin and makes him look up. “This isn’t all your fault, it is mine too. We were in a relationship and that takes two people. You didn’t fail me, we sort of failed each other.” Mark says even though it hurts too. 

But it’s the truth and Donghyuck visibly shakes at it, but he doesn’t disagree. He doesn’t hide away like he usually does, but looks sternly into Mark’s eyes. And that must have taken a lot of effort for him to do. 

Mark’s palms get sweaty when he thinks: _but just because we failed each other doesn’t mean I didn’t love you because I did, I do._

Oh _Jesus Christ_ does Mark still love Lee Donghyuck with his whole-ass, broken heart. 

“I still love you too.” Donghyuck wetly laughs and Mark blinks at him. _Ah, okay this again._

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Mark speaks like someone is strangling him to death and someone might as well because clearly his mouth to brain function is broken to all hell. 

“Yeah, you sort of did.” Donghyuck says before launching himself on to Mark. He doesn’t tackle him persay, but does something really close to it. 

Because suddenly Mark has a lap full of Donghyuck, his ass digging into Mark’s thighs, but the younger’s hands are on Mark’s cheeks and he is _smiling._

_My full sun,_ Mark thinks and smiles right back. He is about to open his mouth to say some sappy shit, but Donghyuck beats him to it by releasing the _biggest yawn_ Mark has ever seen. 

“Ah shit, sorry. I’m just so tired and mentally fucking drained, my God.” Donghyuck says now wiping away his own tears. 

“It’s okay, let’s just go to bed and restart tomorrow.” _We have time._

So they do, together, in Mark’s bed where Mark won’t freak out the next morning because: _Donghyuck still loves me, Donghyuck still loves me, Donghyuck still—_

“Night, love you.” Donghyuck mumbles in Mark’s collarbone as he tucks himself into his side. 

“I love you too.”

And when Mark wakes up it’s because Donghyuck’s nose tickles his cheek. He isn’t slow to wake up this time due to the pressure from a pair of lips touching his. It is just a peck but it’s enough for Mark to feel more alive than he has ever felt. 

He opens his eyes and is met with a smiling Donghyuck and he thinks: _God I’m so happy to be home again._

The sun shines through the blinds and Donghyuck’s painting turns everything golden; it is real life deja-vu. 

Sometimes the most hopeless things really bring out the worst in humanity. But Mark really thinks that this right here is the best thing the Universe has ever had to offer.

  


  


**Day 14— Saturday**

Mark and Donghyuck spent all of Friday in bed just laying there, looking into each other’s eyes and being sappy _as fuck_ because they could and Heaven forbid someone trying to stop them. 

At some point they do FaceTime the guys to update them on the whole situation instead of leaving them in the dark like Donghyuck wanted (come on, it'll be funny!) and told them that they talked it out and are going to try again with the relationship. 

While the guys were nothing, but supportive, they also seemed a little weary too. Rightfully so and neither Mark or Donghyuck could blame them for it.

They both have shit to figure out, both personal and with each other, but this time they are going to do it together rather than trying to split it 50/50. 

This leads them to now though, doing probably the most boring thing you could do on a Saturday: homework. 

To be honest, there technically was a bright side to Mark’s mental breakdown. It being that he didn’t miss class because you know, class isn’t real anymore (however, fuck online class too). 

So now Mark (and Donghyuck who admitted he as well did nothing this past week) are doing homework at the kitchen counter for the last day of quarantine. 

Exciting right? 

_Could be worse,_ Mark thinks when he looks over at Donghyuck just at the right time to see him pouting at his music theory exercises that he has been doing for the past 45 minutes. 

They opened as many windows as they could that morning to let in the breeze once again. The sun is shining warm and bright, leaving the apartment toasty on this unimaginably beautiful spring day. 

Donghyuck lit a couple candles that are surrounding them currently with a soft scent of fresh laundry, speaking of which, they did wash the bed sheets, thank _fucking_ God. 

Even while busting his ass over his econ homework, Mark feels strangely content in comparison to what is going on around them in the outside world that only seems to be growing worse. 

According to the news, the virus isn’t gone, but the number of cases have actually skyrocketed due to more testing. It still has a low death rate and is affecting older people with underlying health conditions so Mark isn’t afraid of dying himself which is nice at least.

The government is going to let everyone move around for a couple days and lift the quarantine for the time being, but warn citizens that it could happen in the near future for another two weeks. 

Mark is a little more afraid of that he guesses because this time, he will actually (well most likely) be alone. Only in times like these does Mark wish he had a roommate, or a work-out bike. 

Yeah, let’s go with the work-out bike. 

“Whatcha thinking about because I bet it isn’t about, uh, the effects on aggregate supply and demand after Brexit.” Donghyuck asks with a sly smirk after noticing Mark was yet again staring off into space. 

“Thinking about what happens after this.” Mark says vaguely and Donghyuck just gives him The Look. 

“Okay I’m thinking about getting a work-out bike in case of another quarantine.”

“Oh _God no,_ please don’t get one, they have awful commercials.”

And well, Mark can’t argue with that. 

They decide to watch the sunset like they did, damn, almost two weeks ago. The sun is already going down later, showing signs that summer is fast approaching. Birds are visibly coming back due to the warmer weather and Mark is glad that at least nature is free during all of this. 

The sky is painted orange and Mark is blessed with the sight of Donghyuck’s skin glowing in the light. Orange has never been Mark’s favorite color, but maybe it will be if he sees it like this enough. 

Once the sun sets, Donghyuck grabs Mark’s hand and pulls him into the living room. He forces the older to move the coffee table and of course, doesn’t tell him why, but Mark does it anyway. 

But finally when the younger pulls up Spotify on the TV and clicks a song that clearly isn’t in Korean, Mark starts getting the point. 

“Dance with me.” Donghyuck whispers and what is Mark going to say, no?

He pulls him in, chest to chest and they sway in the candlelight that is amplified by the rising crescent moon. Mark can feel Donghyuck’s heart beat right up against his and not to be dramatic or anything, but their heartbeats do match up (just soulmate things). 

Mark doesn’t think he will ever be as content as he is right now again in his life. Never has he had a moment happen and think: _this will never happen again,_ but this moment will truly never be duplicated. 

And that’s okay, it’s more than okay because there will be plenty more moments for them to make new memories that will fill in the holes. 

“Can you translate the lyrics for me?” Donghyuck says softly into Mark’s ear and he nods in response. 

_“Oh I'm going to San Diego, here I come San Francisco, won't be long Sacramento, whoa yeah, in the sun I just might go.”_

Mark sings to the tune of the song in Donghyuck’s ear. At some point they stop swaying and just hold each other. Donghyuck’s arms feel heavy around Mark’s neck, but he doesn’t think he will ever get tired of the feeling. 

_“Oh, I said I'm going to San Diego and San Jose, San Francisco and hang by the bay, Sacramento, whoa, yeah all the way. I just might go all the way to Mexico. I just might go all the way down to Mexico.”_

“We should visit Mexico one day.” Donghyuck murmurs and Mark blinks away tears in his eyes that are stubbornly not leaving because God does he yearn. At least he doesn’t have to in silence anymore. 

“We should _Duckie_.”

Donghyuck looks up from Mark’s chest with his big brown eyes and leans in for a small peck. Mark takes both the sight and feeling of the younger like he will never get to see the sun shine fully again. But luckily he will, and _he knows_ he will. 

“It’s been a while since you’ve called me that.” He whispers against Mark’s lips. It’s barely a kiss with how much they are smiling, but Mark bathes in the light of the softness. 

And when Donghyuck leaves tomorrow, Mark will be sure to remind him of this promise they made and Duckie (God, Duckie, Duckie, _Duckie!!!_ ) will tease him right up until the door closes. 

But Mark knows that one day they will make it to Mexico, and he can’t wait for the day. 

_You and me riding into the sun, I like the sound of that._

  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there you have it folks! hope you enjoyed it and i hope this story was able to make quarantining not as awful as it truly is lmao. chapter titles come from 'hiding' by florence and the machine and lyrics at the end of the fic are from 'automobile' by kaleo. 
> 
> pls leave kudos and comments! scream about 'kick it' with me ;-;
> 
> until next time~~ xoxoxo
> 
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/travelingsymphony)


End file.
